without you, none if it matters
by babyemery125
Summary: “I took a long, shuddering breath against her skin. She smelled of sweat and open air and cigarette smoke, but also of something distinctly Chloe that I couldn’t quite name but made my chest ache and my grip on her shoulder blades tighten even more.” It’s a beautiful spring morning when the dead rise again. But even in the apocalypse, Max and Chloe will find eachother.


**Hello and thank you for clicking! A/N at the end, I hate long blocks of bold to sort through before stories as much as the next guy **

It was a cool, easy spring morning when the news hit. Chloe had been chilling in her room, toking out. Easy listening flowed from her stereo as she practiced her 'o's.

She'd just blown a particularly round one when her phone suddenly went fucking wild, letting off these crazy high-pitched signals so loud she'd nearly pissed herself.

Weird, Chloe thought. She'd turned off those amber alert and flood warning things months ago. She thought about getting up to check what it was. Something serious enough to bypass the off setting on her phone, right?

But the joint in between her fingers had only just been lit, and she could only barely feel the fuzziness starting around the edges of her brain. Definitely not high enough yet. So she took another long drag and closed her eyes, one arm behind her head, foot lazily bouncing back and forth. Not a second later, however, her phone rang, loud and jolting again. Chloe groaned, but put the joint out in the ashtray next to her on the bed (thinking, I'll be back for you soon baby) and hoisted herself up.

This better be important, she thought, eyes narrowed at her phone still lit up and ringing on her dresser. Chloe caught the word "Joyce" on the screen before she clicked the answer button and brought it to her ear.

"Chloe!" Her mom's voice was high and panicked on the other end of the line, and it startled her.

"Mom? Whats wrong?" Chloe asked, and whatever beginnings of a buzz she'd been able to catch were fading fast, a small strain of panic rising in her chest. First the crazy alarm, now a hysterical call from her mom? What the hell was happening?

"Are you ok? Where are you?" Joyce said quickly. Chloe could just make out sounds of traffic in the background, beeping cars and sirens. Joyce's shift didn't end at the diner for another three hours.

"I'm fine, I'm at home, what's going on?"

"Thank god. Stay where you are. You need to lock all the doors in the house, and let nobody in for anything. I'm on my way home."

"What's going on," Chloe said again, and now she was really starting to catch some of her mom's crazy nerves.

"Have you seen the news? There's some kind of...virus. People going crazy, attacking each other. Nobody knows what's going on."

Chloe's stomach lurched, and she grabbed onto the dresser to support herself.

"What?" she said, lamely.

"Just stay there. And lock the doors. Be careful, baby, I'll be home as soon as I can. I've got to go. I love you." Joyce hung up the phone before Chloe could respond.

Hands shaking, Chloe pulled up her notifications.

WARNING* RED ALERT *WARNING*

Nationwide lockdown issued. Return to homes and stay inside until further notice. This is not a drill. Possible international threat, do not interact with strangers, return to homes and stay inside. Repeat, this is not a drill.

WARNING* RED ALERT *WARNING*

Chloe pursed her lips. This seemed really fucking serious. Hands shaking, she pulled up the dial screen on her phone and tapped in a number from memory while she headed into the hallway and down the stairs. She pressed the cell to her cheek and listened to the rings, other hand busy switching over all the dead bolts on the front door. Just as she'd finished, the line connected.

"Chloe?" Rachel said, voice sounding just as concerned as she felt.

Chloe's chest flooded with relief.

"Rachel," she said. "Any idea what the fuck is going on?"

"No idea. Fucking crazy, though. You okay?"

"Yeah. Just locking up now, mom's on her way home. What about you?" Chloe started on the lock on the sliding glass doors.

"I'm fine. Home with my parents now. They're totally freaking."

"And you're not?" Chloe finished with the garage door, then took a deep breath.

"Maybe a little bit," Rachel said, letting out a shaky chuckle. "You and Mama J should come here. We're pretty secluded. Might be safer."

"Maybe. Maybe you guys should come here, though." Chloe wanted to laugh at the idea of James and Rose Amber in all their rich asshole glory sitting in the Price's shithole living room, probably worrying about getting grease on their designer suits or cashmere sweaters. It's a funny image, despite also making Chloe clench her teeth.

"Step-douche has his fucked up garage bunker. We've got enough food here to not have to leave for a year," she paused. "Actually, scratch that, you better stay there. If this shit goes on too long, I'm gonna need somewhere to escape to."

Rachel laughed, quick and nervous.

"Be safe, Chloe, for reals. This is totally insane."

"Do you know what's happening, at all? Joyce said something about a virus?" Chloe scrunched her nose up. "Like zombies?"

"Fuck, Chloe. I don't know. That's what people are saying."

"But that's way too fucking quick. Nothing yesterday, and now we're being taken over? That's crazy." Chloe stood in the middle of her living room, phone still pressed against her ear, fist bunched up in the fabric of her jeans.

"You're telling me." Rachel paused, and there was a loaded silence, and Chloe knew they were both stressing for real. "I've got to go."

"Yeah. Right, me too. Joyce'll be home soon."

"Tell Mama J I said hey, and to be safe."

"Sure. You too, Rach." Chloe's stomach twisted, thoughts of everything that could go wrong running like a train through her brain.

"Any zombies come at me, I'll just undo a couple buttons and give 'em the bedroom eyes. Never fails."

Chloe laughed, one fast, genuine laugh.

"Right. Guess even the undead need to get their dicks wet."

Rachel chuckled too.

"Talk soon," she said, then the line went dead again.

Chloe let out a long breath, hand clutched tight around her phone. What the fuck. She wanted desperately to run back up the stairs and finish the joint still in the ashtray in her room, down the last quarter of Jameson stuffed under her bed, something. But she knew it wasn't the time. She needed to be sober right now. This shit was too big, too important.

With another shaky breath, Chloe fell down on the living room couch, every muscle in her body tense and tight. Her gaze landed on the stain in the carpet, half covered by the ugly rug her mom bought the year before. The fingers still wrapped around her phone itched. There was one more person she wanted to know was safe.

But Chloe couldn't do that, she couldn't call Max. Max hadn't contacted her in years. She'd dropped off the face of the planet already. Who knew if the number in her phone was still the right one, anyway.

But thoughts of Max flooded her mind. What would she say if Chloe called her? Would she be happy? Upset? Concerned? Would she even answer? What if something had happened to her already...she did live in the city. And if this whole thing was anything like a legit zombie movie, a city was the fucking worst place you could be.

An image of Max's face, half rotted away, arms out, eyes clouded, mouth open as she stalked toward Chloe seared into her mind. Chloe's stomach turned. No. She couldn't think of that.

Losing her resolve, Chloe pulled her phone up to her face, found the contact she was looking for in her phone (renamed to 'fuckface') and typed a message out instead.

Ik it's been awhile since we talked, but theres some crazy shit goin on rn. Lmk if ur ok, I guess.

Hoping she didn't sound too desperate, Chloe hit send, and let the phone flop down on the cushion next to her. Her head fell onto the back cushion, and she closed her eyes, willing her body to relax. This was all probably just nothing. Some virus from China everyone was losing their mind over for no reason. The world would freak for a few hours, the grocery stores would run out of bottled water and milk (what was that anyway, fucking, milk goes bad in two days, get shit that's going to last idiots) and by that night the warning would be lifted and things would go back to normal.

Chloe assured herself that was what would happen, pushed down the sinking feeling in her chest and stomach, and tried not to strain her ears for the sound of a text notification.

It never came.

**A/N:**

**Hello and thanks for reading!**

**I recently replayed Life is Strange for the first time since I was a senior in high school, back when it first came out. Jesus that seems like forever ago. Now that the game is on mobile, though, it's just way too easy access. And I haven't been able to get these two out of my head.**

**The idea of a zombie apocalypse AU just kinda came to me. I was playing, I think it was the junkyard scene, and target practice with the bottles, and I was like. Shit. Chloe looks so hot with a gun. And it just sorta spiraled from there lol.**

**The universe in my ZA AU is pretty similar to the Walking Dead universe, but in mine zombies have existed before so that is a word people use to describe them. **

**Next chapter is a bit of a time jump, be prepared, because now that I'm in my twenties I feel a little weird writing teenagers esp if I want them to get a little sexy eventually. But, just to be clear, this first chapter starts when Chloe is 18, a year before we see her in LIS.**

**Anyway, that's all! Please don't hate me too much for putting our girls through more shit. Thanks for reading ️️**


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